But the doctor — using his charm and his powers of persuasion — convinced his
superiors to allow him to keep on working as a surgeon and a consultant.
The hospital knew he was a liability. It had already paid out £9million in
compensation to a mother whose baby was severely brain damaged at birth
because of negligence and had been involved in at least a dozen more legal
cases when he was called on to deliver David and Samantha Cameron's fourth
child.
The Camerons had been on holiday in Cornwall when Mrs Cameron was rushed to
the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Treliske for an emergency caesarean section
in August 2010.
David Cameron with his fourth daughter, Florence (PA)
Mr Jones delivered the baby and was still working at the hospital a year later
when the Camerons returned to thank him and his team for Florence's safe
delivery.
Mr Jones was introduced to her by Mr Cameron as "the man who pulled you out of
mummy's tummy". His face aglow, the surgeon told reporters: "I was only
aware of the pressure after the event; that's when I realised the magnitude
of the situation.
"I didn't even think about it at the time. I had to act quickly and deal with
a woman in labour."
He sounded like a hero. The truth was the Camerons may have had a lucky
escape.
Carole Gill with Maggie (Apex)
Carole Gill was not so fortunate. On January 18 2010 — seven months before
Florence Cameron was born — Miss Gill, an English teacher, gave birth to her
daughter Maggie by caesarean section at the Royal Cornwall.
Maggie died two days later. She was so severely brain damaged, starved of
oxygen in her mother's womb, that she never stood a chance.
In the run-up to the birth, Miss Gill, 34, from Mevagissey in the county, had
felt violently sick. She had already had one child and knew that her
pregnancy was not going smoothly. But at the Royal Cornwall in mid-December,
where she had gone to be monitored because she was feeling ill and her blood
pressure was so high, Mr Jones dismissed her concerns and sent her home.
"Some people say Mr Jones is a charming man," she said, "But I would call him
a megalomaniac. He had an air of superiority. He lorded it over the ward.
"He just came in, asked if I had been sick again and when I said I hadn't he
said: ‘You are free to go home.' "
Miss Gill saw him again on January 16 and was sent home a second time. "He
just said everything was fine with the baby," she recalled. In fact, it now
transpires, Miss Gill was suffering from acute pancreatitis, a potentially
fatal illness. She is certain that her illness led to her daughter's death
and her lawyers are exploring the link.
The hospital declared Maggie's death a "serious untoward incident" and
investigated. Mr Jones was suspended from his obstetric practice until the
conclusion of inquiries into the baby's death.
During the investigation, Mr Jones admitted to the hospital's medical director
that there may have been "an error of judgment" in that specific case. The
hospital — despite a "high level of concern" over Mr Jones — let him go back
to work on February 26 2010. It was not the first time that his work had
been looked at. As early as 1993 — just a year after he started work at the
Royal Cornwall — he had been the lead doctor in a birth that ended in brain
damage for another baby.
A then pregnant woman, whose identity cannot be disclosed for legal reasons,
was being treated in the maternity ward for high blood pressure and protein
in her urine — classic signs of pre-eclampsia.
Mr Jones, however, missed the signs. The woman should have been induced there
and then but was instead sent home. When the baby was born, he was suffering
serious brain damage. Nobody, however, told the mother of the mistake; it
would take 15 years for the hospital authorities to inform her that her
child had, in all probability, needlessly suffered brain damage.
A member of staff, who had befriended the mother and child, urged her to take
legal action.
In 2009, the hospital admitted negligence and finally agreed a settlement of
£9 million to pay for round-the-clock care for the boy and the purchase of a
specially adapted bungalow for him to live in with his parents.
The child, now aged 19, cannot feed himself, cannot speak and has severe
learning difficulties. His mother said: "Nobody told me what was wrong with
him at the time. It was only just before his 15th birthday and I had managed
to see his birth records. I was talking to a member of staff and she told
me: ‘I am telling you to sue them because they are at fault'. I am really
angry. Had Mr Jones not made that wrong decision I would have a perfectly
healthy son." Her solicitor, Mike Bird, a partner at Foot Anstey law firm,
said: "It is bad enough that such basic mistakes were made, causing such
profound injuries and effectively robbing the child of a normal life.
"On top of that, the baby's mother was not told for about 15 years that her
baby should have been delivered sooner and that, if he had been, his brain
damage would — on a balance of probabilities — have been avoided. She
struggled with little support for all of that time."
Mr Bird is representing 45 women who are investigating legal claims against
the hospital trust for injuries caused by Mr Jones.
Claire Hill (Apex)
Claire Hill, 35, a mother of three, is planning to sue the trust after a
routine gynaecological procedure went wrong in 2010.
That led to her going back to Mr Jones for a hysterectomy in 2011 which left
her with a fistula injury caused by a hole in her urinary tract causing
severe incontinence. For a long time she could no longer walk in the street
because of the embarrassment and the psychological damage remains.
She has since had four further operations to correct those mistakes. An
investigation by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists found
five patients treated by Mr Jones had suffered fistulas when "more than one
in a consultant career would be unusual".
Mrs Hill underwent a further four operations to correct the error. She now
suffers chronic fatigue syndrome, she says, as a consequence.
"I cannot ever forget what he has done to me," said Mrs Hill, from Tywardreath
in Cornwall.
"Internally, his nickname is The Butcher. I was told that by a member of staff
who let it slip out. He could be very charming and very articulate but at
the same time he was arrogant. He thought he was a demigod."
In 2008, two years before Mrs Hill's operation, Mr Jones persuaded the
hospital's then medical director to drop an investigation into his
"significant surgical incompetence". Mr Jones, according to the
hospital's internal report, had turned on the charm.
Gloria Prize (Apex)
Gloria Price, 60, a retired teacher, from St Austell in Cornwall, is also
planning to sue the trust and is also being represented by Mr Bird.
She underwent a hysterectomy conducted by Mr Jones in 2002 and has been in
pain ever since. The pain was so intense that she had to move her bedroom to
the ground floor because she could no longer climb the stairs. Her husband,
a retired policeman, effectively became "my full time carer".
Mrs Price said: "I have never recovered in full. They missed opportunities to
stop him. They looked the other way."
Mr Jones has slipped into retirement. He removed himself voluntarily from the
medical register in October 2012 meaning he cannot be disciplined by the
General Medical Council. He and his wife now run a bed and breakfast in the
countryside outside Truro.
"Rob and Mandy Jones welcome you," says their website, to a "peaceful country
retreat". Guests are promised a relaxing stay "surrounded by acres of
garden, fields and woodland".
Guests might know him as the doctor who safely delivered the Camerons'
daughter. To too many of his patients, he remains "The Butcher".
Source:
http://www.news.ezonearticle.com/2013/03/03/easy-charm-that-allowed-surgeon-known-as-the-butcher-to-carry-on-working/
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